

VALUES
What do we value?
Maryland Essentials for Childhood (EFC) serves to connect science, policy and people, so children thrive. Making that goal a reality means transforming Maryland into a trauma-informed community for everyone.
Collaboration
EFC strives to bring people together to leverage their skills, lived experience and expertise to achieve our mission. This process includes developing a broad common agenda and using a collective impact approach to achieving success.
Trauma-Informed Process
EFC recognizes that there are steps to work through to become trauma-informed. We support individuals, communities, organizations, and elected officials in walking through that process from being:
- Trauma Aware = Awareness
- Trauma Sensitive = Knowledge & Skills
- Trauma Responsive = Change & Integration
- Trauma-Informed = Leadership
Common Agenda
Maryland Essentials for Childhood efforts follow these guiding principles:
1. Ensuring safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments
so all children and families can meet their full potential as self-sufficient, socially engaged and productive citizens.
2. Sustaining a collaboration across multiple sectors
to conduct strategic and mutually reinforcing activities aligned to our common agenda.
3. Accomplishing our goals requires changes in multiple systems,
focusing on broad social and economic determinants, changing social norms and governmental and institutional policies.
4. Grounding systems change in the best availabile evidence
and continuously striving to improve the quality of programs, services and systems.
5. Providing culturally and linguistically congruent care
to those served within programs, services and systems.
6. Taking action to reduce inequities and disparities
that are avoidable, unjust and preventable in order to improve overall child health and well-being.